System and method for write protecting portions of tape storage media

ABSTRACT

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium includes a tape having a plurality of partitions configured for storing data, and a plurality of read-only partition identifiers, each read-only partition identifier associated with one of the plurality of partitions and readable by a tape drive having a processor and memory for writing and reading tape data. Each read-only partition identifier selectively designates a corresponding one of the partitions as read-only to prevent data from being written to the designated read-only partition by the tape drive.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/018,192 filed Jan. 31, 2011, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for providingwrite-protection to portions of tape storage media.

BACKGROUND

Network servers and other host computers may use different types ofperipheral storage devices having different capacities, access times,and other operating characteristics suitable for various applications.Enterprise and data center solutions may employ multiple complementarydata storage devices to achieve desired data availability, reliability,security, long-term accessibility, and cost effectiveness, among otherconsiderations. Many networks use an automated schedule to archive datafor long-term storage. Long-term storage devices may be implementedusing a wide variety of storage technologies including magnetic andoptical disk drives, solid-state drives, tape drives, or other types ofstorage devices. However, compromises among performance, capacity, andcost are often required. Tape drives continue to provide cost-effective,reliable, and energy efficient long-term data storage, particularly forhigh-volume backups, long-life archives, disaster recovery/businesscontinuity, compliance, and various other applications that includeinactive data.

Various applications require tape-based write-once, read-many (WORM)storage solutions. Once information is written to tape, additionalinformation can be added or read as often as needed but can never bechanged, modified, or deleted. A number of strategies have been used toidentify or designate a particular magnetic tape cartridge or cassetteas a WORM or read-only cartridge. For example, many magnetic tapecartridges include on-board memory, such as an RFID chip, that mayinclude information designating the cartridge as WORM or read-onlymedia. In addition, cartridges may have a movable switch or slider, aremovable tab, a permanent ridge or dimple, etc. that may designate thecartridge as a WORM or read-only cartridge when appropriatelypositioned, removed, detected, etc. Furthermore, information stored onthe tape at a specific location, such as in a media informationrecord/region (MIR) or other location at or near the beginning-of-tape(BOT) or end-of-tape (EOT), for example, may be used to designate thecartridge as a WORM or read-only cartridge. These strategies fordesignating the media as WORM or read-only apply to the entirecartridge. While suitable for many applications, these strategies maybecome less desirable as tape storage densities continue to increase.

While various error correction techniques may be used to reduce oreliminate data errors, deterioration or damage to the physical tapemedia, for example, may result in one or more regions being unreadableor exceeding an acceptable error rate. This typically results inretiring the cartridge, i.e. no additional data can be written to anyremaining regions of the tape. This may result in a significant loss ofstorage capacity for any such cartridge particularly as storagedensities continue to increase.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods for writing data on a tape having a plurality ofpartitions and accessed by a tape drive having an associated tape driveprocessor in communication with a host computer having an associatedhost processor include a tape and/or tape cartridge storing a read-onlypartition identifier associated with each of the plurality ofpartitions. The tape drive processor compares a requested writepartition identifier with the stored read-only partition identifiers,and writes data to the requested write partition only if the associatedread-only identifier indicates that the requested write partition is nota read-only partition.

In one embodiment, a method for archiving data from a host computer toone of a plurality of tapes having a plurality of substantiallyidentical data partitions and loadable into a tape drive incommunication with the host computer includes reading informationidentifying selected partitions marked as read-only associated with oneof the tapes when the tape is mounted. The method may also includetransferring the information into tape drive memory, receiving a writerequest from the host computer to write data to at least one of thepartitions, and comparing the information in the tape drive memory tothe write request to determine if the write request includes anypartitions designated as read only. Various embodiments includereturning an error to the host computer for partitions in the writerequest designated as read-only partitions by the information in thetape drive memory, and writing data to partitions in the write requestthat are not identified as read-only partitions by the information inthe tape drive memory.

Embodiments according to the present disclosure may also include acomputer data storage system having a tape drive with an associatedprocessor and memory for writing and reading data on an associated tapehaving a plurality of substantially identical partitions for storingdata. The tape drive reads information associated with the tape thatincludes a read-only identifier for each of the partitions and transfersthe information to the memory. When the tape drive receives writerequests from a host computer including at least one requested writepartition, the tape drive determines whether to write data to therequested write partition based on the information in the memory. Thesystem may also include a host computer in communication with the tapedrive. The host computer requests a change to the read-only identifierassociated with at least one partition. In response, the tape drivemodifies the read-only identifier only if owner information associatedwith the read-only identifier matches owner information associated withthe host computer.

In one embodiment, the computer data storage system includes a tapedrive that stores the identifiers in at least one of the tape and anassociated cartridge RFID tag. In various embodiments, the computer datastorage system includes a tape drive with a tape drive processor thatdetects read/write errors associated with a designated partition andchanges an associated identifier to mark the partition as read-only toprevent subsequent write attempts to the partition.

Embodiments according to the present disclosure provide variousadvantages. For example, systems and methods for writing data to tapeaccording to the present disclosure allow the host computer to designateless than an entire tape cartridge as read-only. In addition, the hostcomputer, application program, or other designation owner maysubsequently change the read-only designation to a read/writedesignation allowing the designated portion of tape to be rewritten. Anyhosts or applications that attempt to write to a write-protected area ofthe tape receive an error. Selective marking of one or more regions ofthe tape as read-only may also be used to identify media errors andprevent subsequent attempts to write data to those regions rather thanretiring the entire cartridge. Read-only partition identificationinformation can be stored within non-volatile storage on the tape and/oron the tape cartridge so that the information is maintained in the eventof a power loss or tape drive reset. Associating an owner with eachread-only partition identifier when the read-only partition identifieris set to identify a read-only partition and allowing only the owner tosubsequently modify the read-only partition identifier protects datafrom being inadvertently overwritten by another host computer, hostapplication, or even the owner host/application.

The above advantages and other advantages and features associated withvarious embodiments according to the present disclosure will be readilyapparent from the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating operation of a representativesystem or method for storing data on a tape having a plurality ofpartitions with associated read-only partition information according toembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a representative physical tapelayout for a tape having selective read-only partitions within aplurality of sections according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a logical tape layout for a tape section having aplurality of partitions that may each be designated as a read-onlypartition according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a physical tape layout for a tape section having aplurality of partitions with associated read-only partition informationaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a logical tape layout for a tape having multiplesections each having multiple partitions associated with a singlelogical volume according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram or flowchart illustrating operationof a system or method for storing data on a magnetic tape havingpartitions that can be designated as read-only according to embodimentsof the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

As those of ordinary skill in the art will understand, various featuresof the embodiments as illustrated and described with reference to anyone of the Figures may be combined with features illustrated in one ormore other Figures to produce embodiments of the present disclosure thatare not explicitly illustrated or described. The combinations offeatures illustrated provide representative embodiments for typicalapplications. However, various combinations and modifications of thefeatures consistent with the teachings of the present disclosure may bedesired for particular applications or implementations.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a representative embodiment of a computer datastorage system used in operation of a system or method for storing andretrieving data from a magnetic tape according to the present disclosureis shown. In the simplified functional block diagram of FIG. 1, system10 includes a host computer or server 12 (e.g., a mainframe server)having an associated memory 14 and microprocessor that runs a hostapplication 16. Host computer 12 may be used to manage or coordinatecontrol of data storage in one or more logical data volumes that mayalso be referred to as virtual tape volumes (VTVs). An optional virtualstorage management module 18 may be used in conjunction with one or moreassociated archive devices 20. Virtual storage management module 18 mayreside within host computer or server 12, or may be located independentof the server 12 at any appropriate network location depending on theparticular application and implementation, for example. Archive device20 may include one or more data storage devices 22, such as magnetictape drives, for example. Each storage device 22 may include anassociated microprocessor 24 in communication with firmware (FW) 26 andvarious other types of memory 28.

Virtual storage management module 18 may perform various functionsassociated with storing and retrieving data from archive device 20. Forexample, virtual storage management module 18 may include a virtual tapestorage control system (VTCS) 30 that communicates with host application16 and directs a virtual tape storage subsystem (VTSS) 32. In turn, theVTSS routes host files either to the archive device 20 or to a virtualtape library 34. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, VTVs or other logical volumes may be stored in a pluralityof substantially identical partitions designated for data storage onmagnetic media associated with one or more storage tapes or cartridges36 that are housed within a tape library 38. Each cartridge may includean electronic data storage device for non-volatile or persistent storageof information independent of the magnetic media, such as an RFID chipor tag, for example. The electronic storage device associated with themagnetic tape cartridge or cassette may include information identifyingone or more partitions as read-only partitions. The information may beread and transferred to memory 28 of tape drive 22 during loading ormounting of an associated tape, for example, as described in greaterdetail herein. Alternatively, or in combination, the read-only partitioninformation may be stored on the tape and read during loading ormounting of the tape. In one embodiment, the read-only partitioninformation is stored in a media information record or region (MIR) ator near the beginning of tape (BOT). In other embodiments, the read-onlypartition information may be stored at various other non-data regions ofmagnetic tape 36, or each partition may include a read-only flag oridentifier at the beginning of the partition, for example. Similarly,owner information that identifies a host computer 12 and/or application16 may be stored when a partition is designated as a read-only partitionso that only the owner can subsequently modify the read-only status ofthat partition. Archive device 20 may be manually or automaticallyloaded with one of a plurality of magnetic tapes housed within the tapelibrary 38 using any of a number of devices, including roboticassemblies that assist archive device 20 in selecting, mounting, anddismounting one of the storage tapes 36, for example. Virtual tapelibrary 34 may be used to buffer or temporarily cache VTVs, which mayultimately be written to one or more partitions of storage tapes 36 asdescribed in greater detail herein.

As also illustrated in FIG. 1, host computer 12 may include a writablepartition mask 40 and mapping information 42 used to manage data storageon available partitions and allocate or associate at least one of aplurality of sections on a storage tape 36 with a logical data volumedesignated by host computer 12 via host application 16 or relatedsoftware, for example. In operation, system 10 performs a method forstoring or writing data on a magnetic tape 36 having a plurality ofpartitions and accessed by a tape drive 22 having an associated tapedrive processor 24 in communication with a host computer 12 having anassociated host processor that includes storing a read-only partitionidentifier associated with each of the plurality of partitions,comparing a requested write partition identifier with the storedread-only partition identifiers, and writing data to the requested writepartition only if the associated read-only identifier indicates that therequested write partition is not a read-only partition. Requested writepartitions may be identified by host computer 12 using writable mask 40.In one embodiment, archive device 20 and tape drive 22 receive writablepartition mask 40 from host computer 12, which designates requestedwritable partitions on magnetic tape 36. Tape drive processor 24determines whether to write data to the requested write partition(s)based on the read-only information previously stored in memory 28 duringloading or mounting of tape 36. Tape drive processor 24 writes data topartitions in the write request that are not identified as read-onlypartitions by the information associated with tape and transferred totape drive memory 28, and returns an error to host computer 12 forpartitions in the write request designated as read-only partitions bythe information in tape drive memory 28.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a diagram illustrating a physical tape layoutfor a magnetic tape having a plurality of sections configurable by ahost computer with each section including a plurality of partitions thatmay be individually identified as read-only partitions according toembodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Magnetic tape 36generally includes a beginning-of-tape (BOT) area or region 50, anend-of-tape area 52 and a data area 54. BOT 50 is a physical feature ofmagnetic tape 50 that can be used by tape drive 22 to detect thebeginning of the data area 54. BOT 50 may also generally refer to theleader portion of magnetic tape 36 that allows the tape to be loaded,threaded through the transport and take-up reel and advanced to dataregion 54 for subsequent reading or writing data when the volume ismounted. Tape 36 may include a media information record or region (MIR)48 that may include a read-only partition identifier associated witheach of the plurality of partitions on tape 36. MIR 48 may be positionedwithin or near BOT region 50 or may be placed at any other non-dataregion of tape 36. In one embodiment, read-only partition identifiersare represented by a bit mask in MIR 48 having a bit representing aread-only status for a corresponding partition on tape 36. Read-onlypartition information may be stored in more than one location on tape 36depending on the particular application and implementation.

Tape 36 also includes an EOT region 52 used by tape drive 22 to detectthe end of data region 54 and/or end of tape. Traditional tape drivesread/write data to the tape by moving the tape from BOT 50 to EOT 52before reversing the direction of tape travel from EOT 52 to BOT 50 toread/write data in a serpentine fashion. In contrast, variousembodiments for archiving data according to the present disclosureinclude reversing tape direction at section boundaries to read or writedata in a serpentine fashion within at least one section associated witha logical volume designated by the host computer as described in greaterdetail herein. However, use of read-only partition information accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure is generally independent of thepresence or number of sections associated with a particular tape, i.e.read-only partition information may be used with tapes that have only asingle section or do not have designated sections separate from thepartitions.

As also shown in FIG. 2, magnetic tape 36 includes a data area 54 thatmay be divided into a plurality of sections 60, 62, 64, 66. Forapplications having host-configurable sections, each section 60, 62, 64,66 extends vertically substantially across the width of tape 36. Thepredetermined number of sections associated with magnetic tape 36 (fourin this example) cumulatively extend across substantially the entiredata portion 54 from MIR 48 or BOT 50 to EOT 52. In one embodiment,magnetic tape 36 is implemented by a ½″ wide magnetic tape having a dataportion length of about 279 meters with each section 60, 62, 64, 66having a section length 70 of about 69 meters. Sections 60, 62, 64, and66, each include a plurality of partitions that may be each bedesignated as a read-only partition as generally illustrated anddescribed with respect to FIGS. 3-6.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a logical magnetic tape layout for arepresentative tape section that includes a plurality of partitions thatmay be designated as read-only according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Representative tape section 60 includes a plurality ofpartitions that may be generally vertically stacked or arranged acrossthe width of tape 36 as generally represented by partitions 80, 82, 84,and 86. In one embodiment, tape 36 includes automatically linkedpartitions (ALPs) that include information for identifying a logicallyadjacent partition such that reading or writing from a designatedpartition to the logically adjacent partition is controlled by the tapedrive processor 24 (FIG. 1) rather than the host computer 12 (FIG. 1)using requested write partitions identified by writable mask 40 (FIG. 1)that may be communicated from host computer 40 and stored in memory 28.Requested write partitions identified by writable mask 40 are comparedby tape drive processor 24 using control logic within firmware 26 toread-only information stored in tape drive memory 28 to determinewhether to write data to the requested write partition. Tape driveprocessor 24 writes data to partitions in the write request that are notidentified as read-only partitions by the information in the tape drivememory 28 loaded from MIR 48 and/or RFID 44 during mounting of the tape.An error is returned to host computer 12 for any partitions in the writerequest mask 40 that are designated as read-only partitions by theinformation in tape drive memory 28.

As also illustrated in FIG. 3, for applications that divide thepartitions into one or more configurable sections, representativepartitions 80, 82, 84, 86 (and all intervening partitions not explicitlyillustrated) extend substantially entirely across the length of theirassociated section 60. The number of sections per tape and the number ofpartitions per section may vary by application and implementation.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, tape drive processor 24 reads informationidentifying selected partitions as read-only partitions associated withone of the magnetic tapes 36 when the tape is mounted. The informationmay be stored in an electronic storage device associated with the tapecartridge that is independent of magnetic tape 36, such as RFID 44, forexample. Alternatively, or in combination, read-only partitioninformation may be stored on magnetic tape 36 within MIR 48 or withinindividual partitions 80, 82, 84, and 86, for example. The read-onlypartition information for each of the plurality of partitions may betransferred from RFID 44 and/or MIR 48 into tape drive memory 28 forsubsequent use in writing data to magnetic tape 36. Host computer 12uses mapping information 42 and writable mask 40 to communicate a writerequest to write data to at least one of partitions 80, 82, 84, 86, anyof which may be designated as read-only by associated read-onlypartition information now stored in tape drive memory 28. Writable mask40 may also be stored in tap drive memory 28 for subsequent use inwriting data to partitions 80-86. Tape drive processor 24 compares theread-only partition information in tape drive memory 28 to the writablemask 40 to determine if the write request includes any partitionsdesignated as read-only partitions. Tape drive processor 24 writes datato partitions 80-86 included in the write request that are notidentified as read-only partitions by the read-only partitioninformation in tape drive memory 28. Tape drive processor 24 returns anerror to host computer 12 for partitions in the write request designatedas read-only partitions by the read-only partition information in tapedrive memory 28 and does not write data to those partitions.

In various embodiments of system 10, tape drive 22 may also store ownerinformation to identify host computer 12, host application 16, and/ortape drive 22 associated with each partition designated as a read-onlypartition to identify the device or application that designated aparticular partition as a read-only partition. Owner information may beused to allow only an owner of a partition previously designated as aread-only partition to change the read-only designation. Ownerinformation may be stored in memory 14, electronic storage device 44,and/or MIR 48, for example. Various other strategies may be employed torestrict modification of a read-only status for one or more partitions.For example, permission levels may be associated with designating aparticular partition as a read-only partition such that any device orapplication having a designated permission level may subsequently modifya previously designated read-only partition.

Tape drive processor 24 performs various read/write data verificationswhen transferring data to/from magnetic tape 36 that may vary byapplication and implementation as well known. If tape drive processor 24detects an unacceptable number of errors during reading and/or writingdata to a designated partition 80-86 of magnetic tape 36, the read-onlypartition information associated with the designated partition may bechanged to mark the partition as a read-only partition and preventsubsequent write attempts to that partition. For example, if tapeprocessor 24 detects errors associated with reading and/or writing datato a bad partition, such as partition 82, tape processor 24 and/or host12 may identify bad partition 82 as a read-only partition to preventsubsequent writing to bad partition 82. Data would then continue to bewritten to the logically adjacent partition specified in the writablemask 40 and/or within the partition information that automatically linkslogically adjacent partitions. In contrast to various prior artstrategies that would retire tape 36 upon encountering such errors,embodiments according to the present disclosure continue to allowreading/writing of data associated with other partitions 80, 84, 86,etc. on tape 36 so that the tape can continue to be used by system 10.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a physical magnetic tape layout for arepresentative logical volume having two sections each having aplurality of partitions that may be designated as read-only partitionsaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In therepresentative example of FIG. 4, logical volume 90 includes adjacenttape sections 64, 66 each having a plurality of partitions as generallyillustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5. As previously described, in applicationsthat have host-configurable sections, host computer 12 designates thenumber of sections to be included in a particular logical volume 90 tobalance data access time and storage capacity of a particular volume.For example, defining or associating a logical volume with a singlesection, such as illustrated in FIG. 3, would result in a smalleravailable storage capacity for that logical volume and faster dataaccess than associating two (or more) sections with the logical volumeas illustrated in FIG. 4, resulting in twice the storage capacity butlonger data access times.

As also shown in FIG. 4, magnetic tape 36 generally includes a pluralityof data bands, generally represented by data bands 92, 94. Each databand may include a plurality of data tracks, generally represented bytracks 96, for storing data. Tape 36 may also include one or more servotracks (not shown) that may be used in aligning the read/write heads asknown. Data written to a single partition may be spread across multipletracks within sections 64, 66 associated with a logical data volume 90,depending on the particular size of the tape, number of partitions,number of sections, etc. However, each partition is recorded in only onesection. For example, partitions 80, 82 may include data recorded ontracks 100, 102, and 104, while partitions 84, 86 may include datarecorded on tracks 110, 112, and 114. As generally indicated in FIG. 4,the tape drive controls direction of travel of tape 36 to reverse tapedirection at section boundaries associated with a logical volume to reador write data within the logical volume in a serpentine fashion. Forexample, track 100 is read/written from section 64 to section 66 and thetape reverses direction to read/write track 102 from section 66 tosection 64, where tape direction is again reversed to read/write track104 from section 64 to section 66. Of course, the tape sections andpartitions may be allocated such that data is recorded in a single passper partition, or some other number of passes per partition depending onthe particular application and implementation.

FIG. 5 illustrates a logical tape layout for a tape having multiplesections each having multiple partitions with associated read-onlyidentifiers or information according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Similar to logical volume 90 illustrated withrespect to the physical layout of tape 36 in FIG. 4, logical volume 124of FIG. 5 includes two adjacent sections 120, 122. Each section 120, 122includes a plurality of partitions 130, 132, 134, 136, etc. As shown inFIGS. 3 and 5, each partition 80, 130, etc. fills the width of anassociated section 60, 120, respectively, along a corresponding lengthof tape 36. Partitions 130, 132, 134, 136 are logically adjacent andalso consecutively numbered in a serpentine fashion in this example.However, logically adjacent partitions may be physically separated ontape 36 and may not be consecutively numbered. Similarly, inapplications that do not include multiple sections 120, 122, partitions130, 132 134, 136, etc. would be consecutively numbered and extendacross the entire data area. Each partition 130, 132, 134, 136, etc. mayhave an associated read-only status identifier, bit, or flag todesignate the corresponding partition as a read-only partition aspreviously described.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operation of one embodiment of asystem or method for writing data to a magnetic tape having selectivelydesignated read-only partitions according to the present disclosure. Asthose of ordinary skill in the art will understand, the functionsrepresented by the block diagram may be performed by software and/orhardware. Depending upon the particular processing strategy, such asevent-driven, interrupt-driven, etc., the various functions may beperformed in an order or sequence other than illustrated in the Figure.Similarly, one or more steps or functions may be repeatedly performed,although not explicitly illustrated. Likewise, various functions may beomitted depending on the particular implementation. Various functionsknown to those of skill in the art may not be explicitly illustrated ordescribed, but are implied by the illustrated blocks or modules. In oneembodiment, the functions illustrated are primarily performed by controllogic implemented by software, instructions, or code stored in acomputer readable storage medium and executed by a microprocessor-basedcontroller to control operation of the system. While generallyillustrated and described with respect to a magnetic tape drive, thoseof ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various functions maybe applicable to various other types of peripheral storage devices.

As generally illustrated in FIG. 6, a system or method for archivingdata from a host computer to one of a plurality of magnetic tapes havinga plurality of substantially identical data partitions and loadable intoa tape drive in communication with the host computer may include storinginformation associated with each of the plurality of partitions innon-volatile or persistent storage as represented by block 200. This mayinclude storing the read-only partition information to at least one ofthe magnetic tape 202 and a magnetic tape cartridge 204 in an RFID tagor chip or other non-volatile memory, for example. Owner or permissioninformation associated with each partition designated as a read-onlypartition may also be stored as represented by block 206.

The system or method also include reading previously stored read-onlypartition information identifying selected partitions as read-onlypartitions when the tape is mounted as represented by block 208.Associated permission or owner information may also be detected or read.The read-only partition information and any associate permission orowner information may be transferred into the tape drive memory forsubsequent use in writing data to one or more partitions as representedby block 210.

During operation, the tape drive receives a write request from the hostcomputer to write data to one or more partitions as represented by block212. The read-only partition information previously transferred to thetape drive memory is compared to partitions identified in the writerequest to determine if the write request includes any partitionsdesignated as read-only as represented by block 214. An error isreturned to the host computer for partitions in the write requestdesignated as read-only partitions by the information in the tape drivememory as represented by block 216. The system or method continue withwriting data to partitions in the write request that are not identifiedas read-only partitions by the information in the tape drive memory asrepresented by block 218.

In various embodiments, the system or method allow only an owner of apartition designated as a read-only partition to change the read-onlydesignation as represented by block 220. Alternatively, or incombination, any host computer or process having an appropriatepermission level or code may be allowed to modify the read-only statusindicator of a particular partition. The system or method may alsoinclude detecting errors associated with reading and/or writing data toa designated partition and changing the read-only partition informationassociated with the designated partition to mark the partition as aread-only partition as represented by blocks 222, and 224, respectively.

As the previously described representative embodiments illustrate,systems and methods for writing data to magnetic tape according to thepresent disclosure allow the host computer to designate less than anentire tape cartridge as read-only. For example, in one embodiment anyone or more of 520 partitions each having a capacity of 9 GB may beindividually designated as a read-only partition. In addition, the hostcomputer, application program, or other designation owner maysubsequently change the read-only designation to a read/writedesignation allowing the designated portion of tape to be rewritten. Anyhosts or applications that attempt to write to a write-protected area ofthe tape receive an error so that data integrity is maintained.Selective marking of one or more regions of the tape as read-only mayalso be used to identify media errors and prevent subsequent attempts towrite data to those regions rather than retiring the entire cartridge.Storing read-only partition identification information withinnon-volatile storage on the tape and/or cartridge maintains theinformation in the event of a power down or tape drive reset. Inaddition, associating an owner with each read-only partition identifierwhen the read-only partition identifier is set to identify a read-onlypartition and allowing only the owner to subsequently modify theread-only partition identifier protects data from being inadvertentlyoverwritten by another host computer, host application, or even theowner host/application.

While the best mode has been described in detail, those familiar withthe art will recognize various alternative designs and embodimentswithin the scope of the following claims. While various embodiments mayhave been described as providing advantages or being preferred overother embodiments with respect to one or more desired characteristics,as one skilled in the art is aware, one or more characteristics may becompromised to achieve desired system attributes, which depend on thespecific application and implementation. These attributes include, butare not limited to: cost, strength, durability, life cycle cost,marketability, appearance, packaging, size, serviceability, weight,manufacturability, ease of assembly, etc. The embodiments discussedherein that are described as less desirable than other embodiments orprior art implementations with respect to one or more characteristicsare not outside the scope of the disclosure and may be desirable forparticular applications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumcomprising: a tape having a plurality of substantially identicalpartitions configured for storing data, and a plurality of read-onlypartition identifiers, each read-only partition identifier associatedwith one of the plurality of substantially identical partitions andreadable by a tape drive having a processor and memory for writing andreading tape data, each read-only partition identifier selectivelydesignating a corresponding one of the substantially identicalpartitions as read-only to prevent data from being written to thedesignated read-only partition by the tape drive.
 2. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the tape comprises amedia information region (MIR) comprising the plurality of read-onlypartition identifiers for the plurality of substantially identicalpartitions.
 3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium ofclaim 2 wherein the MIR is located within a beginning-of-tape (BOT)portion of the tape.
 4. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 1 wherein the plurality of read-only partitionidentifiers are stored within a non-data region of the tape.
 5. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein eachpartition of the plurality of substantially identical partitionsincludes one of the plurality of read-only partition identifiers storedwithin the partition.
 6. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 5 wherein the one of the plurality of read-onlypartition identifiers is stored at a beginning of the partition.
 7. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 furthercomprising a tape cartridge having an electronic data storage deviceconfigured for non-volatile storage of information independent of thetape, the electronic storage device readable by the tape drive andstoring the plurality of read-only partition identifiers.
 8. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein theelectronic storage device comprises an RFID chip.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the tape comprises amagnetic tape.
 10. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 1 further comprising owner host computer or applicationinformation associated with each of the plurality of read-only partitionidentifiers and readable by the tape drive.
 11. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the tape comprises abit mask representing the plurality of read-only partition identifiers.12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1wherein each of the plurality of substantially identical partitionscomprise a plurality of sections each associated with a logical volumedesignated by a host computer.
 13. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of substantiallyidentical partitions is substantially identical in size and designatedfor user data storage.
 14. A data storage tape cartridge comprising: atape having a plurality of partitions configured for storing data; aplurality of read-only partition identifiers, each read-only partitionidentifier corresponding to one of the plurality of partitions andreadable by a storage system, each read-only partition identifierselectively designating one of the plurality of partitions as read-only;and owner information associated with each read-only partitionidentifier that designates a host computer or application as beingallowed to selectively change the associated read-only partitionidentifier.
 15. The data storage tape cartridge of claim 14 furthercomprising an electronic data storage device readable by the storagesystem, wherein the plurality of read-only partition identifiers arestored within the electronic data storage device.
 16. The data storagetape cartridge of claim 15 wherein the electronic data storage devicecomprises an RFID chip.
 17. The data storage tape cartridge of claim 14wherein the tape comprises a magnetic tape.
 18. A magnetic tape forstoring data comprising: a plurality of partitions; a plurality ofread-only partition identifiers each associated with one of theplurality of partitions and selectively designating a corresponding oneof the plurality of partitions as a read-only to prevent data from beingwritten to the designated partition.
 19. The magnetic tape of claim 18wherein the plurality of read-only partition identifiers is storedwithin a media information region of the tape.
 20. The magnetic tape ofclaim 18 further comprising owner information for each of the pluralityof read-only partitions identifiers that designates a correspondingpartition as read-only.